brooks & dunn - red dirt road

ronnie dunn ~ going solo!

Ronnie Dunn, best known for his work with Brooks & Dunn, is working on a solo album that will be out next year. He is also producing the project, according to Renee Bell, executive vice president of A&R at Sony Music Nashville.

Dunn's manager, Clarence Spalding, confirms that the album will be on Arista Nashville, Brooks & Dunn's longtime label, which is a division of Sony.

Dunn has recorded a solo track for Country Strong, the upcoming film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw. His contribution is a cover of "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)," a Wayne Carson Thompson song that was a No. 1 hit for Gary Stewart in 1975. Country Strong will be released nationwide on Jan. 7, 2011.

Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn teamed up in 1991. Brooks & Dunn proved to be an inspired pairing from the start. Their first four singles all went No. 1.

During this time, Dunn came into his own as a songwriter. He and Brooks, along with Don Cook, co-wrote their first two No. 1's -- "Brand New Man" and "My Next Broken Heart." Dunn wrote the next three chart-toppers -- "Neon Moon," "Boot Scootin' Boogie" and "She Used to Be Mine" -- all on his own. He also quickly asserted himself as the act's lead vocalist.

Over the next several years, he would write or share the writing on such No. 1's as "That Ain't No Way to Go," "She's Not the Cheatin' Kind," "Little Miss Honky Tonk," "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone," "A Man This Lonely," "Red Dirt Road," "It's Getting Better All the Time" and "Play Something Country."

Before splitting up this year at the end of their triumphant Last Rodeo tour, Brooks & Dunn could look back on winning two Grammys for best country vocal performances and 14 CMA awards for vocal duo of the year. In 1996, they were voted CMA's entertainer of the year.

They performed their final show in Nashville on Sept. 2, 2010.

In the course of their career, Brooks & Dunn sold more than 30 million albums and were one of the biggest concert draws of their era. Dunn has won BMI awards for 25 of his songs.

brooks & dunn ~ final rodeo

They went out the way they came in. Brooks & Dunn ended their 20-year career as a duo by performing their first hit together, "Brand New Man." The pair closed out their concert last night with an encore of the song that became their debut single. The sold-out show at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville was Brooks & Dunn's final stop on their Last Rodeo Tour. It was also a fundraiser for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Kix Brooks told the audience early in the show: "This isn't a funeral. We did show up to party."

ronnie dunn in annual speed week

Ronnie participated in the annual Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah over the weekend with little success. Driving Jeff Brock's restored 1952 Buick Bonneville Bombshell, Ronnie was hampered by mechanical problems. "On my first run, it suddenly lost power at 115 mph," he says. "The boys on the pit crew said the fuel pump blew. They tore it apart and were able to repair it."


 Day two wasn't much better. "On the test run the next morning they burned a valve and trashed the engine," Ronnie reports.  "I think I'll stick to singing."


Brooks & Dunn have a few more shows before their finale at Nashville's Bridgestone  Arena on Sept. 2, 2010 which will benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.